


Chemistry, In More Ways Than One

by lady_needless_litany



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Don't copy to another site, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-24 23:28:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17713712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_needless_litany/pseuds/lady_needless_litany
Summary: Since Spiderman revealed his identity to the world, life has been somewhat insane - as evidenced by an email that turns up in his inbox one day.Ft Peter being a Shuri fanboy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic did not go to plan _at all_. This was supposed to be from Wanda’s POV, but it ended up being Peter’s for some reason - I guess it flowed more naturally... I hope that's OK.
> 
> I’m not entirely sure on Wanda’s age, but I’m guessing she’s only early twenties. Also, this fic functions under the assumption that Team Cap rejoined the Avengers after CA:CW.

Since he’d revealed his identity, Peter’s life had gotten a hell of a lot more chaotic. The majority of the kids at school had gotten over it and continued to treat him as they had before, but he hadn’t been so lucky in regards to the general populace. He considered it a successful day if he was only stopped for selfies and autographs twice on the way home.

To be fair, he supposed, he put himself out there on the Internet, which was a major contributor to his new-found popularity. YouTube and Twitter were both a blessing and a curse.

Settling down at his desk, he cringed at the twenty-two tabs he had open, most of them for homework. Grateful for any diversion, he checked his emails—his inbox was near overflowing. Most were standard marketing jargon, a few from teachers, and one from an email address he didn’t recognise. Usually, he would’ve labelled it as phishing or spam, but the domain made him think twice: _@wakandaoutreach.gov_.

Strange. He opened it anyway.

He skimmed through it several times before the words properly sank in.

_Dear Mr. Parker,_

_The Wakanda International Outreach Centre cordially invites you to participate in the inaugural Youth Emergence and Exploration Talks._

_YEET welcomes two hundred exceptional young people, recognised as influencers and innovators, to discuss global issues and the future that we collectively face._

_The Wakanda International Outreach Centre_

Right. Not what he’d been expecting.

A quick online search proved that it was a real, serious event. Not a joke or scam. Which, somehow, made him even more perplexed; the invite was completely out of the blue.

Naturally, he knew where to turn for advice. He hit one of the numbers at the top of his contacts list and put his phone to his ear.

“Hey, Mr. Stark,” Peter said the man picked up.

“Hey,” he replied. Peter still warmed when he heard the fondness in his voice. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I was just wondering if you knew anything about YEET.”

“YEET?” he queried. Peter could, in his mind’s eye, visualise his confused face. “Isn’t that an Internet thing?”

“Well, yeah, but this is the-” Peter peered at his computer screen. “The Youth Emergence and Exploration Talks.”

“Rings a bell.”

“It’s in Wakanda.”

There was a click, presumably Tony snapping his fingers. “Right! I got asked about it the other day—some journalist. But I’ve got nothing to do with it.”

“Yeah, it’s just that I got invited.”

“That’s great, kid,” Tony exclaimed, sounding genuinely pleased. “Are you going?”

Peter stopped for a second—despite the email being an invitation, he hadn’t actually considered attending. “I mean—I’d love to. It sounds great. But it’s probably not practical. Like, getting there and missing school and stuff.”

“Don’t worry,” Tony reassured him. “We’ll sort it out.”

 

* * *

 

The kitchen, as in any home, was the centre of the Avengers’ living quarters. It was pleasant, spacious, with floor-to-ceiling windows and views of greenery.

It was one of Wanda’s favourite places. She often cooked—though that definitely wasn’t her forte - or simply sat, thinking or reading or scrolling through her phone. The room gave her a sense of tranquility that was near impossible to find anywhere else.

She was sitting at the breakfast bar, flicking through her social media feeds, when an email notification popped up. Weird. She rarely got emails.

Scanning it, she absorbed the formal wording, the technicalities.

Right on cue, Tony entered the room, on the hunt for coffee.

“You okay?” he asked, noting Wanda’s concentration.

“Yeah, fine. Just an email.”

Tony was a Stark, which made him instinctively nosy. “About what?”

“Some youth thing.” Wanda frowned. “It’s got a stupid name.”

A mental click. “Wait, are you talking about YEET?

Hearing it out loud, in plain daylight, merely reinforced the name’s ridiculousness. Wanda couldn’t help but crack a smile. “That’s it.”

“Peter got invited, too.”

“Right.” Wanda drew out the ‘i’, sounding thoroughly unconvinced of the whole affair.

“I think you should go. The two of you, the next generation of the Avengers—it would be a great chance to connect with people.”

“Good PR, you mean,” Steve said pointedly, walking up to the kitchen counter. Despite their truce and a genuine desire to cooperate, there was still a little friction between the two of them.

Tony, to his credit, didn’t take the bait. “It’s a brilliant opportunity.”

“I mean, sure, but what am I adding to the event?”

“You’re an Avenger. That makes you pretty damn influential.”

Steve added, “Lots of young people look up to you.”

“Still.” Wanda fidgeted. “Peter… he’s all over YouTube, people love him. He’s promoting science and education. I’m not. I just fight people, occasionally.”

Steve opened his mouth to reject her claim, but Tony cut him off. “If it’s any comfort, someone else should go with you. I’ll see if I can convince Natasha to go.”

Wanda’s cheeks warmed and she glance away, aware that her blossoming interest in Natasha wasn’t as discreet as she’d like it to be. “Alright,” she agreed, finally. “I’ll go if she goes.”

 

* * *

 

Natasha’s eyes widened, looking uncharacteristically concerned. “Why do I have to supervise them?”

“You and T’Challa seem to get on. It’s important that we keep him on our side,” Tony elaborated.

“I barely know the guy! And he likes Steve as much as he likes me!”

“Don’t worry,” Wanda said, smiling, clearly endeared my Natasha’s horror. “I promise we’ll behave.”

“Besides, you’re way younger than me or Cap. It’s a youth forum—it makes sense for you to go.”

“Pretty sure I don’t qualify as ‘youth’, Stark. Nor am I an expert on technology or innovation, unlike you and Bruce,” she added pointedly.

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”

She remained unconvinced. They continued arguing, back and forth, grinding each other down.

The next day, however, it became clear that Natasha had lost that particular battle.

She called Peter, personally, to inform him that Wanda had also been invited, and that she herself would be accompanying both of them. He responded with such tangible enthusiasm that she began to think it might not be such an awful experience after all.

 

* * *

 

The next time Peter even thought about the conference was a month and a half later, about a fortnight before the event itself, when there was a segment on the news about it.

Shuri, Wakanda’s princess and the Internet’s latest darling, was answering questions from an interviewer that was clearly somewhat sceptical about the whole affair.

“Could you tell us a bit more about the name? ‘Youth Emergence and Exploration Talks’ is fairly vague.”

“It’s simple,” Shuri explained, with simple, definitive hand gestures. “We are considering existing and emerging problems, and exploring avenues for the future. Thus, ‘emergence and exploration.’”

“Aren’t there many other events with the same purpose?”

She maintained a façade of professionalism, but there was a spark of annoyance in her eyes. “The problem with many youth conferences is that they’re organised by old people. YEET is organised by young people, for young people. It’s a forum that we can own.”

“Right…”

Peter’s attention swiftly began to wander, but he kept returning to the conference and to Shuri. From what he knew of her, he respected her brains and her determination to push the Outreach Centre. Her habit of verbally dismembering chauvinists and racists online was startling impressive, as well. He was willing to admit that he was a bit of a fan.

_Wait. What if I get to meet her?_


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to Tony’s latest updates, the flight to Wakanda was fairly short and painless. YEET’s opening ceremony, on the other hand…

Peter, Wanda, and Natasha had barely had a chance to see their accommodation before they were guided to a large auditorium. Instincts kicking in, Natasha had insisted that they sit to one side, several seats between them and the people closest to them; it was no mean feat, given that the space was fairly full, but Natasha had perfected her death stare for a reason.

Consequently, they spent the best part of half an hour flicking through the same four-page programme, over and over again, and making stilted small talk. Well, it was only awkward when Peter got involved—Wanda and Natasha seemed to have no end of things to whisper about.

By the time the opening ceremony actually started, he was relieved by the distraction. The first speaker was a woman called Nakia, who he vaguely recognised. It was a good speech, a rousing call to action. Peter was hooked from start to finish and applauded enthusiastically with the rest of the audience.

The succession of speakers after her, on the other hand, was somewhat agonising.

By the time the second speaker had finished, Peter was stifling frequent yawns; by the time the ceremony began to wrap up, he was surprised that hadn’t lost his mind.

The audience began to stand and make their way out of the auditorium—Wanda, Natasha, and Peter did the same with palpable enthusiasm. Alas, they never made it to the door.

Before they had taken half a dozen steps, someone called from behind them. “Excuse me!”

The three of them turned. “Excuse me,” repeated the man, hurrying towards them. “I’ve been asked to introduce you to Princess Shuri.”

 

* * *

 

It had been a long day and they were all tired. Despite that, they gamely agreed to accompany the man. Shuri kept a lab in the palace, near the top of the building, with views across the city. That was where the three of them were taken. It was sleek and modern, all screens and glass. A Panther suit—one of her latest prototypes—stood against one wall.

When they arrived, Shuri was sitting, skimming through a new article on cutting-edge cybernetics. The sound of them entering the room broke her concentration and she moved towards them, extended a hand.

She shook each of their hands in turn; went she reached Peter, she said, “I’m Shuri.”

“Yeah, I figured. I follow you on Twitter.” He frowned. “Sorry, that came out weird. I’m Peter.”

Shuri laughed. “No problem. So, how are you finding YEET?”

Meeting her in person, Peter was suddenly absolutely sure that her sense of humour matched his. “Please tell me you named it.”

“What, YEET?” she asked, mischief flaring in her eyes. “Obviously. T’Challa and Nakia—this was their idea, as well as mine, technically—wouldn’t know what a meme was if it hit them over the head.”

Her answer made him grin. Natasha, looking around the lab, gave Shuri an approving look. “This is pretty impressive.”

“Thank you. It’s a lot of work,” she said. “Speaking of which, I was hoping that you guys could help me out with a few things.”

It was clear that Shuri, when she wanted to, had the gift of the gab; in under five minutes, she’d convinced Wanda, as notoriously stubborn and unaccommodating as she could be, to test the Panther suit’s energy absorption capabilities with her magic.

A rather...dangerous fifteen minutes ensued, wherein Wanda continuously pummelled the suit with different bursts of magic. For the most part, the suit functioned as it was supposed to, discharging energy in near-explosive shocks. Luckily, the glass windows and walls were blast-proof and the four of them were just out of range. Still, Peter found himself continually flinching.

When she eventually let up, Shuri gave a satisfied nod. “Thank you. The suit’s sensors gave some unexpected readings. I’ll look into it.”

Slightly out of breath, Wanda replied, “No problem.”

“Damn,” Peter interjected. “That was pretty amazing. I wish my suit could handle that.”

“The power of engineering,” she commented. Then, searching her memory, she tilted her head. “You’re into engineering, too, right?”

Peter scratched his head. “Chemistry is more my thing, if I’m honest.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ve got a little pet project that needs your input.”

Mildly alarmed, Natasha interrupted gently. “I think Wanda and I will sit that one out.”

Wanda nodded. “Peter’s the science-y one. We’ll leave you two to it.”

“Sure. In that case-” Shuri shooed them into a small room off to one side, with glass walls and a scattering of furniture.

Once the door was safely shut behind them, Shuri turned to Peter with a conspiratorial whisper. “Are they a thing?”

“A thing? Like, together?” Peter asked, perplexed. “No, I don’t think so. Why?”

“Are you blind?”

“No. Wait, really? Am I missing something?”

“Uh… they seem fairly ino each other.”

By his own admission, Peter wasn’t the best at reading people, especially women. But this? When Shuri sounded so sure? His astonishment was absolute. “Really?”

“Really.” Shuri threw him a glass vial, which he caught. “I’ve been trying to replicate your webbing from watching your videos. How’s this look?”

 

* * *

 

Behind the glass, Natasha and Wanda had made themselves comfortable, the latter scrolling through her phone. Natasha was absorbed in a document that Tony had sent her about upgrading her gauntlets. Occasionally, one of them would glance up and offer a dry comment about Shuri and Peter’s antics, but they passed the majority of the time in companionable silence.

About forty minutes into it, Wanda felt herself growing drowsier and drowsier. The jetlag was beginning to take its revenge. She positioned herself so that her head was on the armrest and her body was stretched along the length of the sofa. It took less than a minute for her to fall asleep.

An hour later, she resurfaced, bleery. “Nat,” she mumbled. “Did I miss anything?”

“No.” Natasha looked at her, feeling a strange sensation of fondness welling in her chest. “You know, you’re actually pretty cute when you’re sleepy.”

“Thanks. You too. I mean - you’re always cute.” Wanda mentally slapped herself, hearing the words tumble out of her mouth without calculation.

A laugh. “Thanks.”

“I mean-you’re so-” As she spoke, struggling to untangle her thoughts and form a coherent sentence, her voice rose in frustration. “I don’t know! Everything!”

“Your brain is sounding pretty scrambled right now.”

“I guess that’s just what you do to me,” she quipped, without stopping to think about what she was saying.

Natasha’s expression turned incredulous. “Are you _flirting_ with me, Wanda Maximoff?”

“Maybe.”

“You realise I’m ten years older than you?”

Wanda made a dismissive sound. “We’re both adults. What difference does it make?”

“When you put it like that, it’s straightforward, but age gaps… they’re looked down upon, sometimes, by some people.”

Wanda fixed her with an intense stare. “We’re the Scarlet Witch and the Black Widow. A mutant and a spy. _We’re_ looked down upon.”

Natasha exhaled. “I know, I know. I really do. And I’m not saying that I’m not interested, but… let’s not rush into this, alright?”

“Dinner, the day after we get back to New York.”

“Absolutely,” Natasha promised.

Wanda’s stare let up, melting back into tired affection. “Okay. Then that’s a start.”

 

* * *

 

Shuri was fiddling with her tablet, making notes on Peter’s comments. “By the way,” she said, looking over at him. “There’s some drama going down next door.”

Peter immediately looked through the glass partition. The two women looked to be talking earnestly, but drama? “What’s going on? And how do you know?”

She shrugged. “Spidey sense.”

He looked at her, at a loss, his only response a half-raised eyebrow.

She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t hide a proud grin. “Cameras and mics. Speech-to-text. It comes up on my screen.”

Impressed, Peter nodded. “Neat. So what’s going on?”

“Let’s just say that they’re definitely _a thing_ now.”

Peter glanced into the room, only to rapidly avert his eyes. Wanda was looking at Natasha with the softest eyes imaginable; just knowing that they were there felt intrusive.

A message came through to Shuri. She read it, sighed, and turned to him. “Duty calls. I have to go. I’ll call someone to take you back to your accommodation.”

He was disappointed, to say the least. “Oh,” he murmured. “Okay. Thanks.”

She nudged him, shaking her head. “It’s okay. The conference doesn’t end until tomorrow night. Besides, I follow you on Twitter and Instagram, now. That means we’re friends!”

He smiled, self-conscious. “Thanks for having us. Here, in your lab, the conference, everything. It’s been amazing.”

“You’re welcome any time, spider boy,” Shuri replied. “As long as next time there aren’t people being sappy in my lab. T’Challa and Nakia are bad enough already.”


End file.
